Closing With a Rout, Georgia Hopes to Open Next Season as No. 1

Georgia will return 17 starters next season and have a Heisman Trophy candidate in tailback Knowshon Moreno.Credit
Chris Graythen/Getty Images

NEW ORLEANS — Georgia Coach Mark Richt acknowledged that he could not believe how long his team’s blowout victory of Hawaii in the Sugar Bowl went on.

“This game did take forever to play,” Richt said of the 41-10 win Tuesday night. “Probably the longest game in the history of college football.”

The 4-hour-5-minute game, however, will be remembered for reasons other than driving away hordes of viewers and hurting Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan’s draft status. The impressive victory lets Georgia make a case to start next season as college football’s No. 1 team.

The Bulldogs (11-2) ended the season on a seven-game winning streak, return 17 starters and have a Heisman Trophy candidate in tailback Knowshon Moreno.

“We hope we’re ranked high preseason,” Richt said. “I think we’re going to return a very good football team.”

Richt made a telling point before the Sugar Bowl. He said that if Oklahoma had started the season as the No. 1 team in the country, it probably would be playing for the national title instead of Louisiana State. Each team lost two games during the season, which magnifies how important perception is in this Bowl Championship Series era of college football.

That was why Richt stressed to his team the importance of finishing strong for the carryover to the next season.

“You want to be ranked as high as you can,” Richt said. “You want to give yourself a chance.”

Hawaii Coach June Jones certainly did not need much convincing of the Bulldogs’ potential as national title contenders next season. Jones’s team opened against Southern California three seasons ago in the midst of its Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush run of dominance.

He said that it was hard to compare the two teams, but he made a point about the speed of the Bulldogs’ defense that will surely be brought up time after time before next season.

The most dominant player in the Sugar Bowl was Georgia defensive end Marcus Howard, who had three sacks, forced two fumbles and generally dominated. Howard’s eligibility has expired, but the next-best-looking Georgia player returns.

That would be Moreno, a tailback from Belford, N.J., who ran for 61 yards on nine carries. Moreno did not start the game; he played behind the senior Thomas Brown, who had 73 yards on 19 carries. But it was obvious who was the best tailback on the field.

Moreno said that when he was deciding where to go to college, he picked Georgia over Florida, and that he never gave Rutgers a long look. Richt said he considered beating out Florida for Moreno a huge recruiting victory.

Jones said of Moreno: “He’s a north-south runner and very strong. He’s going to make a giant step next year.”

Jones was liberal in his compliments of Georgia, but he hinted at what would be the biggest obstacle in its competing for the national title. Georgia quarterback Matthew Stafford appeared erratic and threw without polish or touch. He finished the game 14 of 23 for 175 yards and a touchdown, but he appeared to make bad reads and not have a good feel for the game.

Jones, a quarterback guru, did not criticize Stafford but said that he would be the key to the Bulldogs’ season in 2008.

“They definitely have a chance to contend,” Jones said. “A lot of it has how fast their quarterback comes along.”

A bowl victory as thorough as Georgia’s on Tuesday means that an off-season of optimism is inevitable. And while Richt spoke of the difficulty of playing in the Southeastern Conference, he welcomed the challenges with starting at the top.

“To think that you can predict being in contention at the end is pretty brash,” Richt said. “And I’m not going to do that. But I do think that we’re going to have a more veteran team than we’ve had in a while, and I think we’ll have some good depth, and I think we’ll have a chance to make a run at it.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: After a Rout, Georgia Hopes to Open Strong. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe